Ex-Portage mayor convicted of bribery raised $69K in 2018, campaign report says
Chicago Tribune
February 21, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-campaign-report-st-0222-story.html
In an off year for municipal elections and with a federal trial looming on the horizon, now-former Portage Mayor James Snyder still raised more than $69,000 for his campaign, according to a 2018 campaign finance report filed Thursday with the Porter County Clerk’s Office.
By the end of the year, Snyder spent $54,511.07 of the funds. He had $15,722.22 left, and his campaign has $11,577.69 in debts to pay off, a review of the report shows.
The balance will be rectified and the fund will be closed sometime this year, said Kenard Taylor, Snyder’s treasurer. Snyder did not return a call seeking comment.
Snyder’s 2017 campaign finance report reflected about $102,000 in contributions and expenditures, including $41,000 in legal fees to two attorneys related to his November 2016 federal indictment, as well as $15,000 in payments to his wife, Deborah, for “office work.”
Those figures were down last year, with $7,287.50 spent on legal expenses and $13,000 going to his wife for what was noted as “campaign management” on the form.
“You still have a lot of functions you do,” even though it wasn’t a campaign year, Taylor said, including a golf outing and Snyder’s roundtable group, comprised of donors who contributed $2,000. “She did all of that work.”
The debts include $5,577.69 that Snyder loaned to his campaign, and $6,000 for John Cortina, Snyder’s co-defendant and the owner of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, the balance of what Taylor said was a loan from Cortina.
Cortina loaned Snyder $10,000 in 2016 and Snyder forgave $2,000 of it in 2017 and $2,000 last year, Taylor said. Cortina remained a member of Snyder’s roundtable group without making the required $2,000 campaign contribution those years, Taylor said. That is reflected on Snyder’s 2018 campaign finance report.
Snyder did not file to seek a third term in office. The deadline to file for this year’s municipal election closed Feb. 8, less than a week before Snyder was convicted on two of the three federal felonies against him.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Hammond found Snyder guilty on Feb. 14 of bribery and obstructing the IRS, bringing to a close a 19-day trial. The jury acquitted Snyder of a third count that allege he took a $12,000 bribe to get a company on Portage’s tow list. Cortina was charged involving that count and pleaded guilty in January.
The felony convictions make Snyder ineligible to hold office under state statute, and he lost the office once the verdict was in.
“He felt he was going to be able to clear himself and run again. That’s the premise he was going on” for fundraising for his campaign, Taylor said.
Donors listed in the 22-page report include individuals and several businesses, as well as contributions from several political action committees, including those affiliated with local unions.
Other expenses included a reimbursement back to Snyder of $9,406.38 for campaign expenses; $421.39 for dinner for what was described as a “legal meeting” at an Indianapolis restaurant; $597.75 in gas for Snyder’s city-owned car; and several dinners at restaurants for city meetings and campaign donors, including a donor dinner at Shaw’s Crab House in Chicago for $239.17, and a city dinner at Yard House in Las Vegas for $240.91.
Snyder’s sentencing is tentatively set for May 14.
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